Lape remembered for teaching style and compassion

Dr. Denis Lape, retired English professor, died Dec. 5, 2015, at age 76.

A member of Roanoke's faculty for 43 years, he resided close to campus in his Salem home. A graduate of Yale University and the University of Minnesota, Lape was best known for his Shakespeare, Southern Literature, and 19th-Century American Literature classes. He also co-taught a course on American Humor in Literature and Politics, led senior seminar courses and served for several years as English department chair.

In 1989, he received the College's first "Dean's Council Award for Outstanding Teaching." The prior year he was named "Outstanding Professor of the Year" by the student honor fraternities Blue Key and Cardinal Key.

Colleagues and alumni remember Lape's character, intellect, humor and talent. Former English chair Dr. Anita Turpin described him as a "legend." His reputation for tough standards and high expectations was equaled by one for caring and compassion.

Lindsey Nair '98, feature editor at The Roanoke Times, said, "He expected a lot, but not without offering the help you needed. I remember being really intimidated when I learned that I had Dr. Lape for seminar. Looking back, I wouldn't have it any other way...He cared about students before, during, after and out of class. He was a great teacher and a great man. He left a huge legacy."

Matt Chittum '89, journalist for The Roanoke Times, said that Lape is on his very short list of people he truly admires. He recalled how Lape encouraged him to apply for a senior scholarship, which Chittum won despite his own hesitancy.

"He validated me in so many ways," Chittum said. "He was tough, but you learned. He had such presence. It was his theatrical way of teaching ... He'd bring things to life."

Nair also remembers his dramatic reading style. "He would pick the best part," she said. "And if he was supposed to collapse and die at the end of the scene, he would." Lape was in his late 50s by then and Nair said that two students would have to help him up off the floor, but that he didn't care because he was having so much fun.

His fun extended to keeping a large cutout of Star Trek's Captain Kirk in his office. Dr. Martha Kuchar, current English chair, remembers that she had a similar figure of Spock. "Our cardboard characters would meet and confer in the hallway...while Denis and I chatted in his office," she said.

"But mostly, I learned from Denis how to be gracious and kind, funny and human," she added. "He was a great storyteller and a devoted lover of literature."

Longtime Roanoke colleague Dr. Bobbye Au, who now is retired, said, "Denis Lape was the best teacher I have ever known...Whether he was teaching students how to write (which he did superbly well)...or introducing [them] to King Lear, Hamlet, Falstaff, or the great white whale Moby-Dick, he did it with a passion that no student ever forgot. I suspect we will not see his like again."

For more, see his obituary and a news article from The Roanoke Times.

By Sharon Nanz '09